About the Center
The Freedom and Prosperity Center aims to increase the well-being of people everywhere and especially that of the poor and marginalized in developing countries through unbiased, data-based research on the relationship between prosperity and economic, political, and legal freedoms, in support of sound policy choices.
The Center analyzes some of the defining questions of our time and of all time. Do countries need freedom to achieve prosperity? Do democracies or autocracies have the better answers to the aspirations of the peoples of the world? What about countries that are not electoral democracies in the Western sense, but have high levels of economic and legal freedoms and leaders who appear to enjoy a high level of legitimacy among their citizens?
Central to answering these questions are the Freedom and Prosperity Indexes. The indexes measure the freedom and prosperity, respectively, of nearly every country in the world.
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Interactive Indexes Website
The indexes rank 164 countries around the world according to their levels of freedom and prosperity. Use our award-winning site to explore 28 years of data, compare countries and regions, and examine the sub-indexes and indicators that comprise our indexes.
Annual Report
The Path to Prosperity The 2024 Freedom and Prosperity Indexes
In this “year of election,” freedom continues to decline globally. Political rights, judicial independence, and checks and balances are eroding. Prosperity growth has slowed, particularly in developing countries. The data underscores a strong link between freedom and prosperity, highlighting the need for data-driven policy reforms.
2024 Atlas: Freedom and Prosperity Around the World
Twenty leading economists and government officials from eighteen countries contributed to this comprehensive volume, which serves as a roadmap for navigating the complexities of contemporary governance.
2023: The Freedom and Prosperity Equation
Thirty scholars and political leaders from twelve countries have contributed seventeen essays to this volume. They make the case that durable prosperity is achieved in countries with economic, political, and legal freedom.
False Promises: The authoritarian development models of Russia and China
Are authoritarian regimes more successful than free countries in offering prosperity to their people? The answer is decidedly no, yet China and Russia advertise the “benefits” and “promise” of their development models. This paper showcases why and how the authoritarian development model is inferior to that of free societies.
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